Brooke Hecker, LETTERS FROM MY TOOTH FAIRY
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[1:34]The second episode on day five of the book last is by Brooke Hecker. Brooke is an author and marketing executive in New York City.
[1:42]She has two daughters and she sometimes secretly reads their books after they've gone to sleep.
[1:47]Brooke's first children's book, Letters from my Tooth Fairy, debuted on August 15th, 2020,
[1:53]and is based off of the real letters that her daughters have received from their actual tootharies.
[1:57]Hopefully, their tootharies don't mind. Brooke, FYI is a mom in my kid's school.
[2:02]Welcome. Thanks so much for coming on Moms Don't Have Time to read books.
[2:05]Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited.
[2:08]I think you're the first, this is true. I think you're probably the first school mom friend I've
[2:14]ever had on the podcast, which is a way to make up. I can't even think of any other
[2:19]mom friend to read books. Can I? I don't know. Of course I'll come to me. There's a lot of
[2:23]awesome. Yes, thank you so much. And I just literally finished reading out loud your whole book
[2:29]to my two little ones and they were like, read it again, read it again, which is always the best time.
[2:35]Oh, that's good. It's a lot of apologies in an event. No, it was great. It was great. Can you
[2:40]just, okay, so explain how you came up with the idea for your book and how it became a book.
[2:46]Please, sure. So first, I don't know, you need me to do this, but this is right. Yeah,
[2:51]it's called letters for my tooth fairy. And so it's from real life when my older daughter lost
[2:56]her first tooth. She said, she got it knocked out at school and it was like, this big drama and
[3:01]you know, the whole school knew about it and it was very exciting. And she went to bed that night
[3:07]and right before bed and it had been a long day. It was like nine o'clock at night and she's,
[3:11]she said, I wonder if I'm going to get Priya's tooth fairy, a school friend who lived around the
[3:16]corner. And I said, oh, you know, she's, she probably, she lives around the corner and she said,
[3:20]oh, that's great because Priya gets a poem for her teeth. And I was like, oh, great. That's great.
[3:30]So I spoke to Priya's tooth fairy and who told me that it was a, it's a form letter from the
[3:36]the internet and she gave it to me. And I thought, I could just probably whip something up really
[3:41]quick. And so it was, I started writing poems for each tooth and they rhymed that they were very
[3:47]cutesy and it had to do with every single story of the tooth. You know, every tooth seemed to have
[3:52]a story. And it also reflected, you know, specific part of her life. And so after a bunch of these and
[3:58]they were really cute and they were a big hit and, you know, I'd share them with friends and family,
[4:01]it was like, well, maybe this would make a cute book idea. So that's what the book is. It's a
[4:07]collection of letters from the tooth fairy for every single tooth. So you're really following
[4:12]throughout this girl's life. And you like that it sort of gave you a snapshot of her life and the
[4:17]different, you know, parts of childhood, but through this very narrow and specific lens of the
[4:22]tooth fairy. That's great. So that was talking about by the end, when she says bye and it's like
[4:28]through all the teeth and falling out, it was so sad. It is sad. How much more does you go along
[4:34]the journey? Because it is sad when your kid loses their last two, you know, it's the end of an era.
[4:40]And mine has not lost her last two. So, you know, a lot of this is just made up and thinking
[4:45]of these scenarios when your child is still young and it was kind of sad to go through and think about
[4:50]it. And my younger one still doesn't like to read the last, the last one because she gets really
[4:55]upset. Oh, yeah. That's so cute. That's so sweet. Well, each note was so clever. And, you know,
[5:02]I was wondering as I was reading, like, did you have to do any sort of Googling or dental digging
[5:07]about the name of all the different teeth? I did do research and my cousins in oral surgeon and I
[5:12]asked him and just timeline when you will lose teeth, when you would get braces, you know, all that
[5:17]sort of stuff. So I definitely did a little bit of research. And then the illustrator who was not
[5:23]went ahead and did little diagrams of each thing. And she did her own research separately because
[5:29]we worked completely in silos and it was very interesting to see what she came up with. But yeah,
[5:33]it was definitely did research. I asked certain questions like one question that my daughter asked
[5:38]me. A lot of this was made up because I talked about teeth that she's never lost. But some of it is,
[5:43]you know, real life questions. And one of them that I got was, how are my teeth going to fit
[5:47]their huge? Like the first two teeth that you get in the top are so big and you know, how are they
[5:51]going to fit? And well, what we learned was that your their full size when they come in and your
[5:57]mouth grows around them. And that's, you know, when they're ready, that's when your other teeth come
[6:01]out. And so things like that, I started, I learned as a 40 year old, which was drawing up the walrus.
[6:07]Yes, it was very cool. It's forever. It is. It's such a funny thought that your, your teeth are
[6:12]the same size forever. And like you grow around them like else. That's a really interesting thing.
[6:17]Yes, it's quite fascinating. What you should really do now that this is out is like a companion
[6:23]journal keepsake thing, which has like the same way. And then like, it'll become a whole thing
[6:31]that like you have to write your tooth story. Yes. But that's a really good idea. You can like
[6:36]do like a scrapbook and you can put the note from the fit too very, but you can write your own story
[6:40]or drawing or something. Yeah, that's a really cute idea. There was a lot. There's a lot of things
[6:44]I think that you can do. And then this hit right when, you know, came out last month, right when
[6:48]COVID really hit. So, you know, it's kind of hard to do all the things that we plan to do around it.
[6:54]But they're, you know, it's such, it's an underserved market too. There's not a ton on the two
[6:57]fairy. So, you know, I think there's so many fun things that you can do. The only one that I feel
[7:03]like we read a lot or we used to read a lot was a couple of purplishes. One of the purplishes.
[7:07]Yes, it's purplicious. And that was all it was. It was one of the think delicious books. And she
[7:11]yes, we have read them to quite a lot. Right. And I'm saying this. I'm realizing we haven't read
[7:19]any of those books and ages. Now we're on to like dog man. And I don't even know. But yes, there's books.
[7:24]There was one with little notes, but aside from that, not too many. Yeah, it was all the different.
[7:29]So the tooth fairy wrote her back, but also the Easter bunny and like I think she thought it's right.
[7:35]Yeah, you're absolutely right. You're right. Yeah. You can even put like a little map because
[7:41]in the book, I'm talking about your, you know, your keepsake journal that now I want you to do
[7:45]because they found a map. Like because like my daughter just lost her tooth in Montana.
[7:50]Yeah. Her first tooth, she lost in Mexico. This is making a sound very spoiled. Sorry. But she was
[7:55]with her dad in Mexico and lost her first tooth and wrote a letter to the tooth fairy saying,
[7:59]please give me, I know I've been Mexico, but could you please leave my money in dollars and not
[8:04]pesos? Oh, that's so funny. Which the tooth fairy did dollars. I mean, and then the next tooth she
[8:09]lost at my brother's house in Montana. And she was like determined to write a note for a toy. And I was
[8:15]like, you don't get toys from the tooth fairy. And you know, so and so in my class gets toys from
[8:18]the tooth fairy. No, no, no, two very only leaves money. You know, but anyway, we need to see like
[8:24]like even in your book like at school and you know, all these different places. But that's
[8:29]exactly the part of the book. I mean, you have a different tooth fairy when you sleep at your
[8:34]grandma's house. And we had the same thing too. Hannah had lost a tooth at an airport at LA
[8:40]actually knocked a tooth out. Both my kids have knocked teeth out. And she had an airport tooth fairy
[8:44]that followed her on the plane. And you know, so it's like, there's all these different. It's true.
[8:49]People lose teeth everywhere. It isn't good. It's a good idea. We should do one branded for this.
[8:54]Yeah. Yeah. It's really so much doing it. There's nothing out there. Yeah. And it'll be like the baby
[9:01]book equivalent. And then like, yeah, everyone will use it. That's it. Yeah. It's a really good idea
[9:06]because right now we hide everything in like a vase. Well, you know, how to save the tooth. You can
[9:11]still maintain the illusion. I'm sorry to like waste art. But no, it's true. It's like you're
[9:18]telling your own story, right? Like it's they're basically writing their own story and then they'll
[9:22]have it to look back on. And then I went through their other like rights of passage that you
[9:27]could somehow brand, right? Yeah. Because it's perfect. The 20 teeth. It's like, why did no one
[9:33]think of this before? Right? And they really haven't. There's not a lot out there. And it is.
[9:37]It's 20 feet across a certain like a very profound part of your life. Yeah. Where there's so much
[9:41]change. And there's so much change. Well, it's all the moving and the baby sister and you know,
[9:46]all of it can't think of people in anything comparable. I think it's a really hard day. We should do it.
[9:51]Yeah. I mean, I don't have to. You do it. You and your team, you take it. Take it around with
[9:58]it. Just send me a call. So do you have.
[10:00]plans for other books aside from the one I just suggested.
[10:03]Yeah, I've been working on, so this is my first,
[10:06]this is my first book.
[10:06]This was like a big swing for me.
[10:08]I didn't ever think to do this.
[10:10]And it came at a time when I was working freelance
[10:13]for years and years at a television network
[10:15]and sort of stalled out because I was working part time.
[10:18]And it was like, well, what do I have to lose?
[10:19]And so I mean, it's like, it's an advanced age
[10:22]to start something new.
[10:23]So now that this is, and it kind of takes a slow process.
[10:27]This is a very slow industry.
[10:29]And which was, it's hard for some of that
[10:31]works in a very fast pace industry to slow it down
[10:33]and realize, oh, we're talking two years ahead right now.
[10:36]So yeah, I started working on more now
[10:38]that this is actually happened.
[10:40]And it's like opened up a whole new world.
[10:42]And with everything that's going on now
[10:44]and sort of being, I'm doing remote with the kids.
[10:47]So being home all the time and not having any sort of alone
[10:51]time has been a little bit stalled me out a little bit.
[10:54]I've been working on something and it's been a lot of fun.
[10:57]Sometimes, though, when you have so much time,
[10:59]then there's more material to, yes, well from.
[11:04]There's a lot more I do a lot more reading now
[11:06]that we have found time.
[11:07]So I feel like that always helps, too.
[11:09]Just reading more, let you write more.
[11:12]Every time I'm doing something, especially,
[11:15]I don't know why with my little guy, the most.
[11:17]But I'm always like, oh, we should write a story about this.
[11:19]Oh, wouldn't it be funny if we wrote a story?
[11:21]That would be a really great idea for a book.
[11:22]And I'm like, you know, there's going to come a time
[11:24]where I have your gone.
[11:26]I'm sitting at my desk trying to think of ideas for picture
[11:28]books.
[11:29]And now they're coming so fast and furious
[11:31]that I don't even stop to take the time to write them down.
[11:34]I'm like, oh, I can't remember any of them.
[11:37]It was like two days.
[11:38]So yeah, I keep an old book.
[11:40]I keep an old book by because it's true.
[11:42]And you're reading these books every night now
[11:44]and soon you won't.
[11:45]Our girls are already doing it on their own.
[11:48]I mean, it's getting less and less of me reading to them.
[11:51]So now is the time.
[11:53]You just like reorganized my little guy's books.
[11:55]And he was like, and these are the books
[11:57]that from when I was little.
[11:58]Yeah, a long, long, long, long, long, long, long book.
[12:02]So does this make you, when you read the other books,
[12:05]do you like approach them differently now
[12:07]that you're writing one yourself?
[12:08]Are you looking more for like, you know,
[12:10]pacing or structure or like anything more analytical or?
[12:13]Well, I definitely just have my own.
[12:15]I know what styles I like more.
[12:16]I tend to like things that sort of rhyme or flow.
[12:19]And I like things that like all the Julia Donaldson books,
[12:22]you know, they're fun to read.
[12:23]And so I think like that kind of book is fun to write to.
[12:27]And I like humor.
[12:28]There's humor.
[12:29]And that's getting to be more and more prominent
[12:32]in the marketplace too, which is really fun.
[12:34]We laugh so much with books nowadays.
[12:37]Some of my favorites like grumpy monkey.
[12:38]I don't know if you guys have that one.
[12:39]Yeah, I can't be like, so every time it cracks me up
[12:42]when the vulture, you know, suggests eating dead meat.
[12:45]So I think like there's, I definitely found
[12:49]the things that I like more
[12:51]and the things I like more to read.
[12:53]And that's part of the, that's part of,
[12:54]I guess the journey too, just figuring out what you like.
[12:57]Yeah.
[12:58]I feel like it's nice because we're still lying.
[13:01]Everything is like centered around the kids, right?
[13:03]Well, the kids like, like, let me read the kids' story.
[13:05]But I feel like starting with like, go the F to sleep
[13:08]or that, you know, like that's like picture books
[13:10]or like, wait, what?
[13:11]We can do this.
[13:12]Like, we can be funny too.
[13:14]Maybe there's another way to use these pages.
[13:16]And yeah, so.
[13:17]Yeah.
[13:18]I feel like the tired parents who are reading the picture books
[13:22]are often looking for something funny.
[13:23]And you know, yeah, so many funny and easy to read.
[13:26]That flows off the time.
[13:29]Those are all things I've come to appreciate.
[13:30]Because sometimes you're throat hurts
[13:32]at the end of the third story that you read.
[13:35]Yes.
[13:36]Yeah.
[13:36]It was like five minute stories together.
[13:39]It's like six hours, you know?
[13:40]Yeah.
[13:41]It feels like having successfully sold
[13:46]and had this book come out and everything.
[13:48]What advice could you give both on the writing process
[13:51]and the publishing process?
[13:52]Aside from learning that it's slow?
[13:55]Well, my only advice could be for, you know,
[13:56]someone just starting out because, you know, that's the only,
[13:58]this is me and I'm just starting out,
[14:00]is that there was two lessons that I think I probably
[14:03]learned the most.
[14:03]And one was rejection was not something
[14:06]that I'd ever had to experience
[14:08]because I worked in a corporate world.
[14:09]It just wasn't the kind of, this is not the way it worked.
[14:12]You did your work.
[14:13]You know, you moved up like everything was fine.
[14:16]The first, we went out with this book first and it rhymed.
[14:20]My letters had rhymed and the book rhymed
[14:23]and I absolutely loved it.
[14:24]And my agent had told me, you know, rhymes don't sell as well.
[14:30]Would you consider rewriting the whole thing
[14:32]to not impose?
[14:33]And I was like, well, I love it.
[14:35]Can we try it first like this?
[14:38]And so she tried it and it got rejected across the board.
[14:40]And it not like a very quick one, but like a very slow
[14:43]because everything is very slow and publishing
[14:46]and it was a very slow trickle into get rejected.
[14:48]And like that first, it was the first time in my life
[14:50]I had been told, you know, no.
[14:52]So I just assumed, oh, well, I tried and that's,
[14:55]like I guess it's just not gonna happen.
[14:58]And my agent was like, no, no, you just,
[15:00]then you go out to the next batch of people or whatever.
[15:02]And I rewrote it and we went out with it again.
[15:06]And when it sold, it was just a very good lesson.
[15:08]I was ready to just walk away
[15:09]and be like, oh, I tried something new and it didn't work.
[15:12]So I think that was the number one thing
[15:13]for someone that's completely out of the industry
[15:16]to get used to because that's something
[15:17]that is just gonna happen.
[15:19]That it's very hard.
[15:21]It to get rejected and think, oh, I'm gonna do it.
[15:24]It had that confidence in yourself with no basis basically
[15:28]to say that I'm gonna keep trying and I believe in myself.
[15:30]And so that was a really good lesson.
[15:31]And I think that was a good lesson for my kids
[15:33]to see happen and that was just very foreign to us
[15:36]and the work that my husband and I do anyway.
[15:39]It just wasn't part of, you know, our every day.
[15:42]And I think the other thing is just like the patience.
[15:44]I mean, it takes a long time and it's all self-discipline
[15:47]which you know and we have a mutual friend
[15:50]and she turns out five, six bucks a year
[15:53]and it's like, that's because she sits in her office
[15:55]and has the time and dedicates it
[15:57]and just like and gets it all done.
[15:59]And that's not and not a lot of people work that way.
[16:02]And I think that's been a lesson too
[16:04]of like trying to get the self-discipline to do something
[16:06]where you're accountable for yourself
[16:08]and it's all about you.
[16:10]So those are the two things that I've learned
[16:13]to really set aside the time
[16:15]and to believe in myself instead of, you know,
[16:18]what three editors might have said.
[16:21]And you never know what is going on with those editors,
[16:24]what else they have.
[16:26]Like they might even have liked it and thought it was funny
[16:28]but they have other books or they're quote is met
[16:31]or whatever, you don't know.
[16:32]You just don't know.
[16:33]Yeah, exactly.
[16:34]It was just a foreign concept and so my first instinct was like,
[16:37]oh, she said no and she's an expert so that means not.
[16:39]Of course.
[16:40]Like that's like pride, you know.
[16:42]Yeah, that's great.
[16:43]And especially for someone who's starting this
[16:45]and like midlife, you know, that's like,
[16:47]it's like a whole new way to operate, you know.
[16:51]I, when you said that earlier, I was like,
[16:53]I don't think it's late at all.
[16:55]Yeah, you're like, I kind of hold you,
[16:56]but I'm 44 and I feel like most of people I talk to
[17:00]are like, not, I don't know.
[17:02]I feel like your forties are somehow the best time
[17:05]ever to write books.
[17:06]I swear.
[17:07]Really?
[17:07]Well, because you have the more experience you're right.
[17:09]You have more experience.
[17:11]You're in it in so many levels.
[17:13]There's so much emotion in your forties
[17:15]because you don't have to be parenting,
[17:17]but you usually caretaking either your parents
[17:19]or friends or kids or something.
[17:22]So you, you've had loss, you've had like caretaking,
[17:26]you've had love and I don't know.
[17:29]There's just like enough mixed,
[17:32]and I'm picturing like a mixing bowl to catch it
[17:34]and you've had enough for the right run in
[17:37]that you can bake something that tastes a little better
[17:40]than maybe the like really pretty cake from like your twenties
[17:44]like your birthday or something,
[17:45]but like it didn't actually taste that good.
[17:47]You know what I mean?
[17:48]You're absolutely right.
[17:49]You are.
[17:50]I think it's just I come from an industry where, you know,
[17:52]when you're, I'm 42, when you're in your forties,
[17:54]you're short of on the way, you know,
[17:56]to you hit your kind of passion of the prime
[17:58]a little bit unfortunately.
[18:00]And so to start something new then
[18:01]or you're at a really successful level
[18:04]and like, why would you start something new?
[18:06]So I think, you know, it's to try something new.
[18:08]It's like it's, it's of course you can.
[18:11]Of course you can do something new and different,
[18:12]but it's like a big step.
[18:14]But writing is it's like an algorithm you.
[18:17]So I know it is something new,
[18:19]but it's like it's not like you're trying to get
[18:22]into, I don't know, mortgage-backed securities or something.
[18:25]Like it's like you're, it's a creative expression
[18:29]of who you are in some way and the more you define
[18:31]who you are as a person, the clearer your output becomes.
[18:35]So a little 100%.
[18:37]It was a good, it was a good thing to learn
[18:40]because obviously I was wrong.
[18:41]And I don't even think they were wrong.
[18:44]It's just like, I'm saying this
[18:45]to try to be more encouraging than not to say like,
[18:48]it's never too late.
[18:49]And no, and it's not.
[18:51]And then we're, I'm about to read by someone who's 70
[18:54]and I like can't wait to read it
[18:55]because I'm like, we'll just do a point of view.
[18:57]Like how neat is that?
[18:58]So I don't know.
[19:00]It's just never too late.
[19:03]You're right, it is never too late.
[19:05]This was so much fun.
[19:06]Thank you so much for coming over.
[19:07]Thank you.
[19:08]Thanks for the great new book for the repertoire.
[19:12]Oh, good, thank you.
[19:13]Not enough not to feel, you know, baby-ish,
[19:15]but still takes your book so it's perfect.
[19:17]And I hope to see you back at school.
[19:19]I know, I can't wait.
[19:20]I hope so too.
[19:21]No.
[19:22]The first cross, the first cross.
[19:24]Okay, all right, bye.
[19:26]Bye.
[19:27]Thanks for listening to day five of the children's book last.
[19:30]And thank you for anybody who's listened to
[19:33]all of these episodes.
[19:34]I hope there are people out there who have heard them all
[19:36]because they're all fantastic.
[19:37]So this concludes the week of the children's book last
[19:41]and look forward to more awesome author interviews next week
[19:45]and every week thereafter until two notes.
[19:48]Thanks for tuning in.
[19:49]Bye.
[19:51]I hope you enjoyed today's episode.
[19:53]I know I enjoyed recording it.
[19:55]Don't forget to check out my new podcast,
[19:58]moms don't have time to lose.
[20:00]Wait, pretty soon, moms won't have time to listen to podcasts.
[20:03]And check out the Instagram community
[20:05]that goes along with it.
[20:06]And if you would like to join, please request to join.
[20:09]It's for anyone who wants to feel body better
[20:11]in their body tomorrow than they do today.
[20:14]And it's a supportive group of like-minded souls
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[20:19]Moms don't have time to lose weight.
[20:21]Thanks for listening to this episode
[20:23]of Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[20:25]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram,
[20:27]at Zibi Owens and at Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[20:30]Also sign up for my newsletter at zibiowans.com
[20:32]and sign up for my virtual book club
[20:34]and meet lots of authors on Zoom every other week.
[20:37]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Textures Sound
[20:39]for the Sound Editing.
[20:40]And thank you to Morning Moon Productions
[20:42]for providing this fantastic intro and now trim music.